The present disclosure relates to fantasy sports, and in particular, to fantasy sports leagues or contests where true fans are rewarded for their allegiance to their favorite team.
Many millions of people play fantasy sports leagues. In fact, over 30 million people actively play fantasy football alone. Fantasy league players participate either in a league among their friends and co-workers or in leagues set up by the various fantasy websites. In fantasy football, leagues are generally limited to 12 teams or less. Each league drafts their players from amongst all NFL players and each player is on one roster only. Each player then sets his roster weekly, makes trades, picks up available players and runs his team like a general manager (GM) would. League play ends usually with two games left in the season and the last two games serve as the playoffs. Each league winner is determined by the end of the regular season.
Most fantasy sports websites allow participants to create a league, join a league or activate their previous league. Many fantasy websites are free to play at no cost, while others charge a premium but provide more data such as statistics, expert analysis, trends, live data, injury reports, and etc. For fantasy football, Yahoo.com currently lays claim to be the most utilized site followed by ESPN.com and then NFL.com. Revenue for these sites is generated through advertising and player purchased expert advice (e.g., ESPN Insider paywall). Adweek estimates that fantasy football is a billion dollar business.
One of the commonly heard and often written about negatives or dilemmas for fantasy football players is that you end up scoring points at the expense of your favorite team. This can be simply referred to as the dilemma.
Imagine, in a football context that Peyton Manning throws an incredible four touchdown passes against your favorite team, leaving you and your fellow fans devastated by the amazing performance. But one fan concludes that at least Peyton Manning was on her fantasy football team. This fan experiences the dilemma in that her favorite team lost, but in fact her fantasy team benefits at her favorite team's expense.
Another often expressed limitation of fantasy sports leagues is their ending prior to the playoffs of the league upon which they are based. This occurs because the players forming the fantasy league teams may not make the playoffs, and without another draft, certain fantasy teams will not have the participation of their fantasy players during the playoffs and thus would not accumulate any scoring points for the fantasy league.
Accordingly, what is needed and previously unavailable, is a fantasy sports league which addresses the dilemma and/or a lack of participation during playoffs. The present disclosure addresses these and other needs.
The present disclosure addresses these and other needs.